It’s best to get into the habit of looking at things in the market and begin thinking of how you can transform them into something, something like ketchup.

- Recipe -

Homemade Ketchup.

/ 20 lbs. tomatoes / 2 lbs. onion / apples are optional /

/ black pepper / cayenne / cloves / allspice / salt / 4 lbs. sugar / 2 pints vinegar /

I put the quantities here because they are so high.

It’s your choice to seed the tomatoes or not. If you want a clean tomato sauce, halve the tomatoes horizontally, then the cavitities can easily be swept clean with two fingers.

Chop everything roughly. Place the spices in a cheesecloth and tie at the end. You can throw everything into a pot and get going but when I have onions and this much sugar it is good to caramelize them a little.

Start browning all the onions, cover with some of the sugar and let them turn brown on low heat. Then add everything else and the cheesecloth and simmer for 3 – 5 hours.

If you have a hand-held blender, many are calling it a soup blender these days, you can use it without transferring anything from the pot. Just remove the cheesecloth first.

If you are feeling old-fashioned, some people pass the sauce through a food mill.

Sterilize jars and seal.